Inventor, Aviation Pioneer. He was the older of the Wright Brothers, the siblings who are credited with inventing the first practical airplane and starting the aerial age. Along with his brother Orville, the pair started a printing business in their hometown of Dayton, Ohio which soon expanded to a bicycle shop. Their interest in flying was piqued by their father, a bishop in the Church of the United Brethren in Christ, and their mechanical aptitude came from their mother, a tinkerer who made small appliances and toys). After becoming interested in flight, they set a goal to invent a device that would not only fly but take off and land. Starting with a kite, then gliders, and finally they added a propeller and an engine to their vehicle, which eventually became known as the "Wright Flyer". They tested their invention on the sand dunes of Kitty Hawk, North Carolina in December 17, 1903, which resulted in the first sustained self-propelled flight in history, and the airplane was born. They returned to Dayton and continued their experiments at Huffman Prairie Flying Field. After working on and perfecting their airplane, they were awarded a patent in 1906. They started trying to attract potential customers with demonstration flights in Europe and elsewhere, and eventually received contracts to build planes for the United States Army,. Wilbur and Orville Wright started the Wright Company and began filling orders. However, Wilber would die of typhoid fever in May 1912, and Orville, discouraged, sold the business in 1912 and retired. The two had been very close, lived at home and never married. Today the "Wright Flyer" is on display at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum in Washington D.C. along with the stopwatch used to time the first flights. (bio by: Donald Greyfield)